Author: Albert Savana

 A Framework Agreement was signed on December 1st in Cairo between the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the pan-African multilateral EXIM bank, and the African Energy Investment Corporation (AEICorp), an affiliated entity of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) that was established to support the development of Africa’s hydrocarbon and energy sectors. The Agreement was signed by Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank and Mr. Zakaria Dosso, Managing Director of AEICorp in the presence of H.E Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and H.E Dr. Omar Farouk, Secretary General of the APPO.…

A loan of 15 million euros has been signed between Proparco (a subsidiary of the French Development Agency) and Arab Tunisian Lease (ATL), with the aim of supporting Tunisian SMEs. Tunisia has more than 80,000 SMEs, they represent more than half of jobs and 40% of GNP. They are a real lever for the Tunisian economy for growth, export, investment, employment and innovation. However, they encounter constraints in financing their activity, in particular in the current context aggravated by the covid-19 crisis. “Leasing”, also called leasing, has developed a lot in Tunisia since the 2000s. It offers a financing solution…

Wall Street’s Volatility Index (VIX) has returned to its February level, before the coronavirus disease was declared a global pandemic by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The fear or stress gauge, based on the volatility of the S&P 500 index of 500 top stocks in the United States, briefly fell below the 20-point line last Friday before waltzing earlier this week to stabilize at 22.5 points on Wednesday, December 2. This downward trend in the volatility index coincides, among other things, with the announcement of effective vaccines against Covid-19 by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, but also with the defeat of Donald…

Expired since February 2020 and extended until this month of December, the new Africa-ACP partnership is being negotiated, on December 3, 2020, for an imminent renewal. The framework agreement, on the European side, comes up against a demand for a joint EU-ACP assembly, which is reinforced, beyond its consultative role. Thus, the chairman of the European Parliament’s Development Committee, Tomas Tobé (EPP, SE) and the chairman of the Parliament’s ACP delegation, Carlos Zorrinho (S&D, PT), told the European Commission that the current negotiation plan was not acceptable because it did not involve increased democratic control. On the ACP side, the…

Former kLab General Manager will structure and deploy the Digital Africa network across the continent Created to support the development of African digital entrepreneurs, the Digital Africa Initiative has just announced the recruitment of a very recognized entrepreneurial figure, Rwandan Aphrodice Mutangana, as Chief Operations Officer, deputizing the CEO. A Former General Manager of the kLab incubator, which has become a reference in Africa, with experience on several other projects contributing to digital capacity building such as Future Coders or the Refugee School of Coding, Aphrodice Mutangana will be specifically in charge of strengthening Digital Africa’s presence on the continent…

Ivory Coast: NSIA Bank opens a 30.5 million euro financing line for SMEs Ivorian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can take a sigh of relief with this new contribution from Nsia Banque Côte d´Ivoire. The institution has entered into a partnership with the Ministry for the Promotion of SMEs to open a financing line of 30.5 million euros aimed at boosting their activities. In line with the Phoenix program (financial and technical support mechanism for SMEs), this funding was recorded by the signing of an agreement on December 1, 2020 between the Minister for the Promotion of SMEs, Anoblé Félix,…

Global broking business, Brokerslink, announces the appointment of Twan Hoste as General Manager as it continues to invest in infrastructure, digitalisation and strengthening the range of support and services it provides to its growing network of partners and affiliates. Twan will be responsible for driving Brokerslink’s growth strategy, focusing on bolstering relationships with the network’s independent brokers in 120 countries, investment in operating infrastructure and developing digital solutions to support the network’s partners and affiliates. He will have overall management responsibility of Brokerslink’s senior team and report to the Brokerslink board. Speaking about importance of Brokerslink in today’s global risk…

The Tunisian Ministry of Equipment, Housing and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Local Affairs and the Environment have published a call for expressions of interest to select the municipalities that will benefit from the historic centre regeneration programme (PRCA). To mark the occasion, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Agence française de développement (AFD) have reaffirmed their commitment to support and assist local authorities working to protect and preserve their historic urban heritage. Between them, AFD and the EIB will provide €12 million (TND 39 million) of financing to the PRCA programme in equal contributions. The objective of the programme…

Bolloré Transports & Logistics Côte d’Ivoire, a subsidiary of the French multinational of the same name, will pay its shareholders on December 18, 2020, for the 2019 financial year, an overall net dividend of FCFA 5.443 billion (8.165 million ‘euros) at term compared to 2018, announced the leaders of this Abidjan-based company. Compared to the 54,435,300 shares that make up the share capital, this corresponds to a net dividend per share of 100 FCFA against 184 FCFA in 2018, i.e. a decrease of 84 FCFA. The dividend that will be paid represents 50% of the nominal value of the share,…

French President Emmanuel Macron’s congratulations to his Guinean counterpart Alpha Condé do not match the classic “for your brilliant re-election” which the elected heads of this world send to each other in such circumstances. On the contrary, the Elysee Palace in a letter dated November 30, 2020, sends “wishes for success” to the Guinean president following the “confirmation of re-election by the constitutional council”. And the French president to say that he measures the expectations of the Guinean people, evoking the economic recovery and national reconciliation, “after the violence, the divisions and the questions which have punctuated these elections”. And…

The African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) today officially launched in Cairo the operations of “MANSA”, a pan-African due diligence repository for financial institutions, companies and SMEs, developed to address perceived risk to do business in Africa and with Africans. MANSA is a single source of primary data required for Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks on African entities, including financial institutions, businesses and SMEs, in accordance with best practices. The platform will also serve to address key trade-related challenges facing the continent, including the lack of market information, the high cost of doing business in Africa, and…

In the second quarter of 2020, the average number of salaried employees receiving remuneration from their employer in the modern non-public administration sector in Senegal registered a decrease of 37,344 compared to the first quarter of 2020, according to the results of a recent survey on the employment, remuneration and working hours (EERH) carried out by the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD) based in Dakar. These employees stood at 304,003 compared to 341,347 in the same period of 2019, a decline of 10.9%. “This development is related to the decrease in the workforce in almost all sub-sectors, including…

Unsuccessful in his appeal in Pennsylvania by a judge he had nevertheless appointed, defeated by the popular vote (80 million votes for Biden against 74 million for him) and crushed by the choice of the large voters (306 for the Democratic party against 232 for the Republican Party), Donald Trump continues to reject his defeat. “If you look at what’s going on. You really have to watch what’s going on. They find huge gaps in the votes. No one believes these numbers. These digits are incorrect numbers. Many incorrect figures have already been reported, ”he said angrily on Thanksgiving Day,…

The Portfolio Management Professionals, in the presence of the Central African financial market regulator, COSUMAF, held their first physical meeting this Thursday, November 26, 2020 at the Starland Hotel in Douala. The executive office was set up and the roadmap and priority projects were drawn up with the assistance of the Finance Value Cabinet headed by Mr. Said Amaghdir. The ASGPAC, headquartered in Douala, Cameroon, brings together all CEMAC actors authorized by COSUMAF to collect public savings. The members to date are Africa Bright Asset Management, Asca Asset Management (Attijariwafa Bank Group), Corridor Asset Management, EDC Asset Management (Ecobank Group)…

In the first volume of his memoir entitled “Terres Promises” (Fayard), which has already sold more than 900,000 copies, former US President Barack Obama provides comparative psychological portraits of several of the world’s greats. From Vladmir Poutine, “short and stocky”, accustomed to being surrounded by a crowd of servants, to Benyamin Nethanayu, man with the stature of Rugbyman, convinced that the Jews had to be as hard as the region where they lived, to the he Mediterranean mood of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, down to the gothic and sober precision of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Everyone goes through it…

Diego Maradona: the hand of God or the victory of Bolivarianism against capitalism Diego Armando Maradona, who died on November 26 at the age of 60 in still unclear circumstances, will undoubtedly remain on June 22, 1986, a scorching day in Mexico City where the hand of God, validated by a Tunisian referee, intervenes in an improbable football match before leaving the sequel to the most beautiful goal of the 20th century. Argentina had just defeated England in revenge for the Falklands War four years earlier. In his book “Mi Mundial, mi verdad” (My world, my truth), Maradona confides, late…

Between indignation over the alleged slavery origin of the expression “Black Friday” and a frank desire to profit, like any economic agent, from good deals, the heart of the African middle classes waltzes. But from Dakar to Nairobi, to access the offers of the big virtual clearance sale of the year, which takes place each year, on the last Friday of November (except in France where the event was declared this year on December 4 due to Covid-19), you must have a compatible internet bank card (billed up to 60,000 CFA francs per year at some banks) or a Paypal…

Generational economics and structural transformation in the age of Covid-19 in West Africa was on the menu at the first meeting of African think tanks and experts. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA / West Africa sub-regional office) organized this virtual meeting to analyze the economic prospects of the 15 ECOWAS countries from the perspective of the Post-Covid 19. The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (through the Ministry of Budget and Finance) strongly participated in the success of this event, which also made it possible to seriously reflect on the methods of capturing the demographic dividend.…

Orange announces the launch of its 5G network in 15 French municipalities, from December 3, 2020, while the anti-Huawei decree, taken by the whole West (USA, European Union and Australia) in a flawless alignment, under the dictation of Donald Trump, could evolve, it is said, with the defeat of its designer in the US presidential elections. Pragmatic, Orange had from the start focused on Nokia and Ericsson while its competitors, Bouygues Telecom and SFR, had chosen the Chinese equipment supplier. If the operator SFR is the first to launch its 5G network in Nice, it still remains suspended from the…

Central Africa’s financial market, a sleeping giant, is no less resilient. Far from the major financial highways, this market formed between oil states, endowed with immense mineral resources, is slowly beginning to take shape between Libreville and Douala. Things are moving as shown by the ranking of portfolio management companies authorized by the Central African Financial Market Surveillance Commission (COSUMAF), at the end of September 2020, delivers unprecedented results. Thus, Harvest Asset Management chaired by Marc Kamgaing, is the very first entity in terms of funds under management with CFAF 41.6 billion, ahead of ASCA Asset Management (a subsidiary of…

All it took was a dialogue between Ghana and the Ivory Coast, between them producers of 70% of the cocoa bean, for international prices to soar. In the same way as this nascent cartel which should, in our opinion, also include Cameroon, why not urge the signatory countries of fishing agreements with the European Union to join forces to negotiate better? Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal are individually signatories of agreements with the 27 EU countries united in a bloc, with a single team of negotiators and a single imperative: to obtain the maximum amount of fish for the minimum cost.…

The Central Bank of the People’s Republic of China will be one of the very first in the world to issue its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or central bank cryptocurrency. The bill concerning this innovation, the Digital Yuan, submitted to public criticism for a month, between October 23 and November 23, aims to position the Middle Empire in the war against the dollar for control of the internet of money and, beyond, to be the currency of global transactions. According to article 19 of the bill in question, “The unit of the Renminbi is the Yuan and the…

China’s historic 2020 participation in the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) marks an important moment in China’s increasing multilateralism. However, while the DSSI gives African governments short-run fiscal space, it also accentuates medium-term debt distress. An ambitious DSSI+ architecture that enhances the transparency and consistency of China’s participation, ensures equal treatment across creditor types, and brings to the fore debt forgiveness is needed to address solvency crises in addition to liquidity ones. Such a DSSI+ framework of sovereign debt measures could raise the creditworthiness of borrowers post-restructuring. China (A+/Negative) has significantly expanded its economic and financial ties with African…

Bloomfield Investment Corporation has maintained unchanged the “A + with a stable outlook” rating awarded to NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire, the executives of the Abidjan-based rating agency said. This structure also kept the short-term rating “A1 with a stable outlook” unchanged. The rating is valid from August 2020 to July 2021. To justify its long rating and the outlook attached to it, Bloomfield refers to the bank’s high credit quality, adding that the protective factors are good . However, agency officials believe that the risk factors are more variable and more important in times of economic pressure. In the short…

Development Partners International (“DPI”) through its ADP III fund, CDC Group, the UK’s publicly owned impact investor, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”) have joined forces in a ground-breaking deal to create a major new player in the pan-African pharmaceuticals industry. The three founding investors have committed an initial $250 million of capital that have been used to fund the acquisition and combination of Adwia Pharmaceuticals, an Egyptian generic drugs manufacturer, and Celon Laboratories Pvt, an Indian oncology and critical care specialist. The platform will leverage its manufacturing and R&D centre of excellence in India to strengthen…

The pre-tax profit of the company Bernabé Côte d’Ivoire, specializing in the marketing of hardware products, recorded a decrease of 17.48% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, announced the leaders of this company. based in Abidjan. This result fell from FCFA 587.346 million as of September 30, 2019 to FCFA 484.691 million as of September 30, 2020, i.e. a decline of FCFA 102.655 million in absolute value. Turnover, for its part, stood at 29.175 billion FCFA against 31.038 billion FCFA as of September 30, 2019, a decrease of 6%. According to the leaders…

While the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), although having reached its minimum threshold of ratification, is struggling to get out of the rut (because, it is argued, of the coronavirus) China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in a virtual conference on November 15, 2020, launch the largest free trade area in the world in terms of GDP and populations, with 2 billion inhabitants, or 30% of the world population. Important point to sign, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), under negotiation for ten years, was achieved without…

IT services group Atos on Monday announced the launch of Atos OneCloud, an initiative that will help it accelerate the migration of its customers to cloud computing, through a one-stop shop for offerings. “Atos OneCloud is the answer to further accelerate the digital transformation of our customers towards secure and carbon-free cloud environments,” said group CEO Elie Girard, quoted in a statement. IT services group Atos on Monday announced the launch of Atos OneCloud, an initiative that will help it accelerate the migration of its customers to cloud computing, through a one-stop shop for offerings. Atos will support this initiative…

The inflation rate in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) countries registered a slight decrease of 0.4 percentage point in September 2020 compared to the previous month, according to data from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). This rate would come out, over one year, to 2.9% at the end of September 2020, after an achievement of 3.3% in August 2020. According to the issuing body, “the deceleration in the rate of increase of the general level prices in September 2020 is printed in particular by the Food and Alcoholic Beverages components, whose overall contribution to…

Faced with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, President Macky Sall of Senegal addressed the issue of Islam in what will be one of the highlights of the Peace Forum opened on November 12 in Paris in the context of a sort of vaccine diplomacy in vogue in recent days at the Elysee. “We need to expand the spectrum of discussions and take into account each other’s realities to build common values. It is quite possible ”, declared the Senegalese Head of State at the outset, weighing his words carefully. And to continue. “We don’t necessarily have the same values, we…